Come on in to Alex's Biology Page! (and some Physics)
Measles Cell
HWK Post #1:The Effects Of The Measles Virus On Cancer Cells
A recent study by the Dalhousie University medical school showed that cancer cells are much easier infected with measles than healthy cells. This study started when scientists found out that there are many different types of cancer cells that have the protein receptors that the measles virus uses to infect the cell. What happens is that when the virus is introduced to cancer cells it latches on and starts to grow inside them. At this point they’ve only tested this on cell cultures; they later hope to move to laboratory mice and eventually humans.
Resource:
1) The Canadian Press. (2011). Measles may fight cancer cells, says dalhousie study. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1048232 HWK Post #2:Neutrinos Breaking The Speed Of Light
Neutrino
A recent discovery was made. Though this discovery may not be true, scientists are still testing, it is groundbreaking. The researchers at CERN have found a particle that has traveled faster than the speed of light. What happened was that around 3 years ago scientists at CERN were sending particles through the earth to another facility in Gran Sasso (730 Km). The particles were arriving at the second station 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light. What did I say? Yes. 60 seconds FASTER than the speed of light. This, if it is true, shatters all theories Einstein made about never being able to reach that speed. That it was impossible. This could change the way we look at the universe.
Another idea based around the speed of light is time travel. A theory that is the barrier of the speed of light is overcome that we will have the ability to go back in time. I ask you classmates, do you think it’s a good idea to be able to time travel? Or are its implications and effects too great?
In the years 1918-1920 a pandemic swept the entire globe, reaching remote areas like the arctic and pacific islands too. The virus was influenza, also called the “Spanish” flu. This type of epidemic has happened twice in recorded history. The second time was in 2009 with the outbreak of Swine Flu.
The majority of victims in 1918 were healthy young adults. This was opposite of what usually happened; the virus usually targeted the juvenile, elderly, or weakened part of the population. During the two years that the flu made its way around the world, 500 million people were infected. Between 50 to 100 million of these people died of the flu, around 3-5% of the world’s entire population. That’s one person in every 5-6 people were killed by the disease. The effect on the world was so severe that the average life span of an American during that time dropped by 10 years.
Influenza has many common symptoms like chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headaches, coughing, weakness/fatigue and just discomfort in general. But in the case of the Spanish flu there was sometimes a secondary bacterial infection of pneumonia. This would set in if the patients hadn’t recovered from fever in three or four days. The pneumonia would bring a sharp spike in temperature and an expectorant (the discharge of phlegm or other fluid from the respiratory tract) of bright red blood. The quick set in of this secondary infection is what made the Spanish Flu so deadly.
The H1N1 virus is transmitted among humans in 3 different ways; direct contact, contact with contaminated objects, and inhalation of the virus in aerosols. This is how the virus can spread so quickly because it can survive on objects longer than other similar viruses and it travels through the air.
Have you ever swum in a pool? Maybe swallowed a bit of the harsh tasting chlorine water? I know I have. Scientists in Belgium have discovered that you can contract a fatal case of malignant melanoma by digesting chlorinated water. One of the materials in chlorine, Sodium hypochlorite, has shown to be mutagenic. Or in other words, it changes the DNA in your body, or mutates it. Another long term risk of ingesting water is “excessive free radical formation”. This increases aging, vulnerability to genetic mutation, hinders cholesterol metabolism, and may even cause cancer. These free radicals can also generate harmful toxins in the body. This can lead to more changes in the DNA. The chlorine also kills “antioxidant vitamin E2“. This antioxidant is supposed to prevent the buildup of these free radicals. What happens if their all gone?
Another side effect of chlorine in pools is that is reacts with all living matter, blood, urine, mucus, skin cells, and one of the reactions is to fore chloramines; chloroform. This build up of chloroform can be very harmful to the body. So, as I have just learned… my second home the pool is much more dangerous than I once thought it to be.
PERSONAL Post #3:Changing genetics. An ethic debate.
I recently read a thought provoking idea that id thought id share, If scientists continue at the pace that were on now, were eventually going to be able to completely unravel the human genome. So that one day we might be able to “optimize” children, genetically create them so they come out smart, fast, and better than anything before. That we’re going to reach the point where we can adjust humans like computer scientists adjust code.
But, here come the ethical debates. Who get to be the adjuster or optimizer of the Childs life? What happens if something goes wrong? When the children grow older, will they resent that the “parents” turned them into a cutting edge freak? If you were tweaked and changed, I think that you are no longer the spawn of your parents love. I think that you’ve been turned into a kind of experiment. If we ever reach this point in time, I hope I’m no longer living. There is no way to “optimize” a human life. If we try, were only creating abominations. Let nature worry about the genetics.
Even after I say that to myself though, I’m already thinking of one or two exceptions to the DNA meddling. I think that the child should grow up to an age where it can make decisions on its own; 8-20 years. Then be given the chance to change their own DNA. Another case would be if they had diabetes, or they were blind. Had a fatal heart condition, or couldn’t move their legs. Then there would be a reason to make the child’s life easier. If easier is the wrong word then make them more...normal. So, maybe this technology will have its advantages, and its disadvantages. And, I can already see all the debates on the news.
Planet Earth is falling apart. It’s becoming over populated. The atmosphere is filling with hot air, and were becoming more hostile toward each other. We need to leave or we are all going to die. Not that we weren’t going to die anyway. Our sun, the provider of food and life, will expand and engulf Earth in about 5 billion years.
This doesn’t bother me, but it is a problem none the less. It is all the more reason why we should move. Moving to a new planet is a logical idea, however we need to find where will we can go. We must find a planet that is suitable to support carbon based life forms. Our best bet is to find one that is already inhabited. And, if we are able to find an already inhabited world maybe the habitants will be advanced enough to help us move there.
I think that the first step to find a planet to house us is to find one that contains water in liquid form. Humans need water to live. As we have proved on Earth, where there is water there is a good chance that life is there too. A few years ago, scientists found a planet that is called “Giliese 581 g”. It is about 20 light years away. That’s only 300,000 years of continuous travel! Despite the distance and time to get there, this planet is worth looking in to because of something on its surface. There is water on its surface, in liquid form. As I stated before, there is a chance that life could exist there too.
If we are to suppose that there is life on Giliese 581 g , I doubt that it would be very advanced. I feel that an another evolved carbon-based organism like us would be improbable, however, just because it’s improbable doesn’t mean it’s impossible. In order to support this theory, I wish to introduce the drake equation.
N = R* x Fpx Ne x Fe x Fj x Fc x L N, The number of communicating civilizations in our galaxy R, The number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Est, 100 Billion Fp, The fraction of those stars that have planets around them. Est, 20-50% Ne, The number of planets per star that have planets around them. Est, 1-5 Fe, Those planets that go on to support life. Est, 0-100% (50) Fi, The number that develop intelligent life. Est, 0-100% (50) Fc, The number that become intelligent and release detectable signs of their existence into space.Est, 10-20% L, The length of time for the civilization to release these signs. Est, Varible
If we input estimates into the equation, we get N (the number of communicating civilizations in our galaxy) to equal 1000. There would be a 1000 possible civilizations that we can communicate with. Our galaxy compared to the Virgo Supercluster, is extremely tiny (See fig 1 (figure one is too big....see link). This means there could be a possible 1000 civilizations just within our galaxy alone, imagine how many could be out there inside of the observable universe.
I’d like to remind everyone that these are just my views. Just because I jump off a bridge doesn’t mean that you do the same. So, just because these are my beliefs, doesn’t mean that you need to have the same ones.
After the research into stem cells, I’ve come across a few points that I think are mainly straight forward. If you’re not using something, don’t throw it away; If your benefiting from something that’s not harming anyone/thing then don’t waste it; don’t waste a life.
What I mean by the first statement is, don’t waste the excess embryos; the ones that come from those IVF clinics. They are being thrown away, which is wasting a human life. They could be used for good! The benefits that can come from something that we don’t even use can be enormous. So, don’t throw them in the garbage, recycle them into new cell lines.
Point two is going over the cell lines we have already. Why would we stop using them? They are ever growing. They are promoting life saving research. And, they are not hurting ANYONE! Leave the lines alone, what’s done is done.
Last, but certainly not least, point three. “Don’t waste a human life”. This idea touches on all parts of stem cell research and is also the most controversial. Each and every embryo does have the chance to be a human yes, but are they humans in the beginning stages? We find it horrible to use these embryos for research; well some people do at least. But the embryos are just a collection of cells. When you used that hot water to wash your hands, you killed millions of organisms. So why do we throw away the ones we do have? Use them. Don’t waste that life, use it for something this helpful to our race. Cure cancer, fix paralyzed people, save a family members life after some kind of accident. Just please don’t let anything go to waste.
P.S. I seem to have forgotten about cloning. Well, for god’s sake don’t clone a human. I know there’s that guy who’s in the basement lab putting a “mini me” into his victims belly. But, just don’t do that. It’s wrong. But, animals on the other hand….. Imagine fields of perfect cows, pigs, sheep, and chickens. The trade that would come to Adanac…..
Resource: 1) The great and wonderful Alex Horwood. (applaud now) HWK Post #4:The Hot Zone (Part One)
Book Cover
Our story begins in the forest , with a little man who lives alone. Our man, Charles Monet, lives in a bungalow that is within sight of Mount Elgon. One day Charles goes for a walk with a pretty lady. He takes her to the cave (Kitrum Cave) where he may have cut his finger on a crystal. And the cut may have come in contact with some bat feces. But, these are assumptions. Our little man then contracted a deadly case of a virus….called Ebola. If the world was a fairy tale, Ebola would be the Grinch mixed with hate, a sledgehammer, and everything bad you can think of.
Our little man continues to a hospital where he arrives on the brink of death. He then proceeds to bleed out in the waiting room; makes a big mess too. A doctor came to help him. His name was Dr. Shem Musoke. Shem also came into contact with our little villain, and it ravaged his body. But, he managed to survive the virus; being the very lucky 10% that live.
Our setting of our tale now shifts to a small town where the Jaax family live. Nancy and Jerry Jaax both work in the veterinary section of the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick. Later in the chapter Nancy gets a job working with the Ebola virus. And on one of her first few trips, she comes within an centimeter of catching it.
In the next few chapters, it is shown that the Ebola virus travels across a room from one infected monkey, infecting one several feet away. It becomes airborne.
In chapter 8, a small boy with the name of Peter Cardinal dies in a hospital; not long after a visit to Kitrum Cave. The same place on Mount Elgon the Monet also visited. Their deaths are similar, except the child bled out under his skin and not out of his body. The next chapter consists of a group of men trying to scower the cave for the virus. They come up empty.
This Ebola scares me. It literaly scares the living crap out of me. That something so darn small can cause so much death and destruction... But, i am also very interedsted in the prospect of learning about in. Hey, myeb someday we can work out how to build an immunity to it. As we did smallpox, and eradicate it from the world. But, i guess we have to ind the host organism first.Then we can focus on the immunization.
Resources:
1) Preston, Richard. The Hot Zone. Expanded. 1. Ney York: Anchor Books, 1995. 1-153. Print\ HWK Post #5:The Hot Zone (Part Two)
Book Cover
Part 2 of the book starts off with a bit of background information of the process of importing monkeys into the united states. Where every year, around 16 000 monkeys are imported. In one particular monkey house, a few of the animals start to die. After an autopsy they are all found to have a hardened spleen. Engorged and clotted with blood. The owner sends samples to USAMRID for testing. They notice that the cells are puffy and have black specks. A few days later, monkeys start to die in the other rooms.
Now, the scientists have discovered that the samples contain a filovirus. This is very bad news as two members of the staff have actually been in contact and have sniffed a vile containing the virus. It is tested and proved to be Ebola Zaire.
Now comes the decisions that need to be made. Wheater the USMRID gets control of the operation or if the army does. They eventually go hand in hand to fix the probem. Teams are assembled and gear is found.
Story continues in section #3
Resources:
1) Preston, Richard. The Hot Zone. Expanded. 1. Ney York: Anchor Books, 1995. 1-153. Print. HWK Post #6:The Hot Zone (Part Three)
Book Cover
Now comes the euthanasia of the monkeys. It begins with the USAMRID team gathering up all of the supplies that were used in Kitrum cave (the space suits, tents etc..) and loading them into a van to be transported to the monkey house. They create an airlock and a grey area in the building. By working in teams they are able to put all of the monkeys to sleep in a timely fashion and keep it out of the reporters eyes.
During this time, a few of the employees that work at the house were getting sick. Two men were sent to hospital with retching and one had had a heart attack.
After reading this third section, I liked to see how the dealt with a scary situation. I also like knowing that when they cleansed the building, they did so with extreme thoroughness. The chemicals used wiped away any trace of life from within the walls. But, it’s still really scary how only a tiny thing can cause so much trouble and almost kills us all. But with this happing with almost knowone knowing. How much has happened before that no one has told us about? Has there been other Ebloa breakouts that have been scuffed under the rug covered up for our own "protection"? I just hope that this never gets released into a moajr city. Or in a worst case scenario, an airport.
Resources:
1) Preston, Richard. The Hot Zone. Expanded. 1. Ney York: Anchor Books, 1995. 1-153. Print HWK Post #7:The Hot Zone (Part Four)
Book Cover
The fourth part of the book is located in Africa. It is Preston’s personal journey to the cave. It explains how the highway that splits Africa made it much easier to travel. It also made it much easier for viruses to spread. During this chapter a man is traveling to Kitrum cave to take a look around. He has a trained guide who also comes. The man also brings along a level 4 bio-hazard suit, or, something that closely resembles one. The two men reach that cave a have to be escorted up by an armed guard.
Once at the cave, he assembles his biohazard suit. In the cave itself, he is very cautious. Not touching anything, being suspicious of everything around him. Once he had his fill of ground zero, the book flips to him visiting the building where the monkey outbreak happened. He found that it was for sale; the business having gone elsewhere. He moved around back and looked into one of the windows. He saw signs of plants and insects growing in the building. That life had finally come back, reclaiming what was once the earth’s.
Preston then goes on to explain that he thinks Ebola will be back. And in greater numbers (star wars reference).
I actually found this idea rather scary. Him knowing that Ebola will be back to haunt us once again makes me not want to sleep. But, all in all I really enjoyed the book a lot. I would read it again. So, goodnight all. It is exam week next week and I should go to bed
Resources:
1) Preston, Richard. The Hot Zone. Expanded. 1. Ney York: Anchor Books, 1995. 1-153. Print PERSONAL Post #5:Whale Prosecution
Our Whale In Question
A marine biologist by the name of Nancy Black faces up to 20 years in prison with a half million dollar fine attached. She has been accused of breaking federal law. More specifically, the Marine Mammal Protection Act. On two occasions, she has violated the law that says you can’t be within 100 ft of a whale while on a watercraft. The whale in question, she had know previously to be very friendly.
She had seen him swimming earlier and set out to find him. She did, and fed him several pieces of meat. After her arrival, she was asked to provide a video of her whale watching that day. What she gave them was a video with that particular section edited out.
What I want to know is, why is a trained marine biologist being charged for doing her job? The thought of going to prison because I worked too hard in school is appalling. So why are they pushing this on her? She wasn’t at risk to hurt the whale, she knew what she was doing. I just think that their spending too much time trying to find out what she did wrong and not spending enough time on other things that actually help our world. Like the feeding and breeding patterns of whales….
Resources:
1) Didymus, J. (2012, Jan 12). Marine biologists could get 20 years in prison for feeding whales. Retrieved from http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/31745 PERSONAL Post #6:Spider-Goat
Spider Goat Herself
In a small farm somewhere in the United States, there is a normal looking goat named Freckles. Alas, Freckles is very far from normal. She is part spider. Wait! Before you freak out a run around in circles, this goat cannot hang from a web and catch large animals. Now sit down and let me finish eh?
Our goat friend is the product of “extreme crossbreeding”. The product of someone manipulating our DNA in a field called synthetic Biology. I have touch on the idea in an earlier post. She has been made for one reason; her “silk”. Spider’s excrete a thin strand of it when they fall. You’ve all seen a web that they can make. Maybe what you didn’t know is the silk itself is stronger than Kevlar; one of the strongest fabrics in the world. But you cannot farm spiders. They can be very cannibalistic animals and will eat each other to death. That’s where freckles comes in. The DNA from the glands that produce the spider silk in spiders has been taken out and mixed with the DNA of the milk producing glands in Freckles. This prompts her glands to create the milk and the spider silk protein.
So, they milk this special goat, extract the protein, and wind the created strand onto a spool of more of it. Like a spool of string, but with very tiny strands of spider/goat silk.
As I also touched on in my earlier post, we are getting so close to the point when we will be able to change literally everything about the world. Who knows, one day we might create a vacuum plant that turns co2 into o2 so fast that it’s like a jet engine. Then we would be getting somewhere…..
PERSONAL Post #7:New Breed Of Swine Flu Brothers
There is yet another new strain of influenza coming into view. It is called “Novel Swine Flu”. It is a variant of the original swine flu in 2009 containing a gene that codes for matrix proteins found in the viral shell. It has been dubbed A(H3N2)v. The “v” stands for variant, so it is distinguishable from the seasonal pig flu virus A(H3N2).
With the questioning of the victims, a new question has been aroused that doctors are asking patients that are thought to be infected with this virus. "Have You Been Around Pigs?” This came about because almost all of the patients have been in contact with one prior to catching the disease. On December 3d, 2011 the infection count had risen to 12 people. Though not very many people are infected, you all know how quickly it developed and spread in the movie Contagion.
But, this post is not limited to this one strain of flu. The CDC (center for disease control) has another novel variation of the swine flu on its radar. It is the A(H1N1) with a mix of genes from avian, swine, and human influenza genes. Since all of these animals have contributed to deadly diseases, I happen to be frightened by this one. If you would like to read more on the CDC’s post, the link is here http://www.cdc.gov/media/haveyouheard/stories/Influenza_A_Variant.html.
Resources:
1) Lowes, R. (2011, Dec 28). Novel swine flu virus now reported in 5 states, says cdc. Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/756148 PERSONAL Post #8:The Velociraptor
Velociraptor
I have recently watched the movies Jurassic Park for the millionth time (planning on reading the book again soon). I have noticed when I watch the movie, I have a favorite dinosaur the almost always triumphs above the rest. The Velociraptor! I will admit it, I am in love with them.
But what I have learned has changed my affection to them; still as strong as ever, just different. The raptors that we see in the movie have been exaggerated in one main extent. They stood just about as tall as the average turkey. Still the same ruthless animal though. Another fact I found was that they had feathers; maybe just on their arms, or maybe in some species of raptor, covering their entire body. I found this a silly thing to think about. The scaly animal I met in one of my favorite movies may have been less scary than I thought.
One thing that they are almost positive is true is the raptors were indeed pack hunters. Since I have found out that they were smaller, I believe they had to stick together to stay alive; to take down the larger animals in groups and not alone. But, still. The raptor will forever live on it its movies. And somewhere in my heart.. I guess
I guess this will be movie post number two. I have recently watched the movie Avatar again. This post was an idea I had while swimming a rather boring set. Bioluminescence. When our protagonist runs through the forest for the first time, at night, he hits every plat possible and they all seem to react and light up. I had just thought, whoa, what if when I walked to school or to the stream outside the plats lit up around me? I would love to have that. I am boarding the first ship to Pandora.
Well since this is bio, I have to explain why this happens right? Ugh, cant you jut watch the movie? Fine. Ill do it, but I don’t like it!
As of now, this only really happens naturally in animals. O, I will use a firefly as my example. There are two enzymes, luciferase and luciferin. In the presence of magnesium ions, oxygen, and ATP a reaction occurs. This reaction is what causes the light to spill out of the gland beneath the abdomen of this animal. What’s cool is that in our developing worlds, people are using this reaction in interesting ways. It is used in forensics and other fields of the type but also in medicine. Say a patient need to know if there is magnesium of ATP somewhere…they put in these two enzymes and wa la! The patient has a temporary glowing ear.
Since we are able to change genes of some animals, would it be a good idea to implement this into plants and then expose this plat to the wild? If it were to survive, would we have a light up outdoors? I think It would be neat, but that’s just my opinion.
Bird Flu
PERSONAL Post #9:Bird Flu...again
I have been thoroughly freaked out. As brought to my attention by you Mr. Buntain, the scientists that were making the bird flu in the lab were able to make it easily transferable from ferret to ferret.
“Why should we care? Their just ferrets”.
Well dear reader, ferrets are the closest representation for humans in lab flu studies. Soooooo there monsters just created a brand new pathogen that could be easily transferred from me to you, in theory. What happens if it escapes the lab? The estimate is that it would kill between 20 million to 150 million people worldwide. This….this is a big number. It’s scary, that there are people who are making a possible horror in a lab. What if someone with malicious intents got a hold of this virus, planted a bit in the JFK airport? Then, in a matter of hours, it could be worldwide.
Now, for the first time in history, two major science journals have been asked to not publish the stories of how the virus was made, for the reason that it could be replicated and released in the world. Me? I’m just here at my key board….scared to death at these experiments.
Another thing, why is it so important that this isn’t released? Oh, well the death rate is 60%...This is 600 times greater than our seasonal flu.
In my opinion, destroy it. All of it. Pull a black op operation and burn it all, securely of course.
cure for Ebola. Well, I seem to have found someone with a good idea at what he’s doing.
Ebola has two specific enzymes that it needs. I mean it is required for Ebola to have these enzymes. Guess what happens when it gets taken away? The virus loses almost all of its infectivity. These enzymes are used to help the virus enter cells and then proceed to lyce (Lytic cycle Woot!) them. What else their finding is, if they can utilize something to stop these enzymes from being produced, then they might be able to cure many more hemorrhagic fevers.
Well, more on the enzymes. When one called “cathepsin B” becomes inhibited, the infectivity indeed drops to almost zero. So, if they could utilize this in an inhibitor drug, maybe we could have a possible cure for one of the most deadly diseases on earth. This alone would give me greater security and more reason to leave my house….
But they are still working on finding the host of Ebola because if they could do that, it would be much easier to manufacture and create a vaccine because you would know what kind of cells the virus originated from. This was touched upon in the book.
Resources:
Science Daily. (2005, April 5). How ebola infects cells. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/04/050418202755.htm RANDOM Post #1:Camera Catching Light In Motion
Well, it seems that a company has just developed a camera that can record 1 Trillion frames per second....One TRILLION. Its so slow that it can show us light moving. LIGHT. Yes. I happen to be baffled by this video.
This is a zip file containing word versions of all of my posts. If something has gone wrong with the posts themselves, this is here. Thanks!
Come on in to Alex's Biology Page! (and some Physics)
A recent study by the Dalhousie University medical school showed that cancer cells are much easier infected with measles than healthy cells. This study started when scientists found out that there are many different types of cancer cells that have the protein receptors that the measles virus uses to infect the cell. What happens is that when the virus is introduced to cancer cells it latches on and starts to grow inside them. At this point they’ve only tested this on cell cultures; they later hope to move to laboratory mice and eventually humans.
Resource:
1) The Canadian Press. (2011). Measles may fight cancer cells, says dalhousie study. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1048232
HWK Post #2: Neutrinos Breaking The Speed Of Light
Another idea based around the speed of light is time travel. A theory that is the barrier of the speed of light is overcome that we will have the ability to go back in time. I ask you classmates, do you think it’s a good idea to be able to time travel? Or are its implications and effects too great?
Resource:
1) The Telegraph. (2011, September 22). Cern scientists 'break the speed of light' . Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8782895/CERN-scientists-break-the-speed-of-light.html
PERSONAL Post #1: The Spanish Flu
The majority of victims in 1918 were healthy young adults. This was opposite of what usually happened; the virus usually targeted the juvenile, elderly, or weakened part of the population. During the two years that the flu made its way around the world, 500 million people were infected. Between 50 to 100 million of these people died of the flu, around 3-5% of the world’s entire population. That’s one person in every 5-6 people were killed by the disease. The effect on the world was so severe that the average life span of an American during that time dropped by 10 years.
Influenza has many common symptoms like chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headaches, coughing, weakness/fatigue and just discomfort in general. But in the case of the Spanish flu there was sometimes a secondary bacterial infection of pneumonia. This would set in if the patients hadn’t recovered from fever in three or four days. The pneumonia would bring a sharp spike in temperature and an expectorant (the discharge of phlegm or other fluid from the respiratory tract) of bright red blood. The quick set in of this secondary infection is what made the Spanish Flu so deadly.
The H1N1 virus is transmitted among humans in 3 different ways; direct contact, contact with contaminated objects, and inhalation of the virus in aerosols. This is how the virus can spread so quickly because it can survive on objects longer than other similar viruses and it travels through the air.
Resource:
1) Virology Blog. (2009, April 29). Influenza virus transmission. Retrieved from http://www.virology.ws/2009/04/29/influenza-virus-transmission/
2) Stanford. (n.d.). The medical and scientific conceptions of influenza . Retrieved from http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/fluscimed.html
PERSONAL Post #2: Chlorine in pools. Safe or sorry?
Have you ever swum in a pool? Maybe swallowed a bit of the harsh tasting chlorine water? I know I have. Scientists in Belgium have discovered that you can contract a fatal case of malignant melanoma by digesting chlorinated water. One of the materials in chlorine, Sodium hypochlorite, has shown to be mutagenic. Or in other words, it changes the DNA in your body, or mutates it. Another long term risk of ingesting water is “excessive free radical formation”. This increases aging, vulnerability to genetic mutation, hinders cholesterol metabolism, and may even cause cancer. These free radicals can also generate harmful toxins in the body. This can lead to more changes in the DNA. The chlorine also kills “antioxidant vitamin E2“. This antioxidant is supposed to prevent the buildup of these free radicals. What happens if their all gone?
Another side effect of chlorine in pools is that is reacts with all living matter, blood, urine, mucus, skin cells, and one of the reactions is to fore chloramines; chloroform. This build up of chloroform can be very harmful to the body. So, as I have just learned… my second home the pool is much more dangerous than I once thought it to be.
Resource:
1) Hattersley, J. G. H. (n.d.). The negative health effects of chlorine. Retrieved from http://www.orthomolecular.org/library/jom/2000/articles/2000-v15n02-p089.shtml
PERSONAL Post #3: Changing genetics. An ethic debate.
I recently read a thought provoking idea that id thought id share, If scientists continue at the pace that were on now, were eventually going to be able to completely unravel the human genome. So that one day we might be able to “optimize” children, genetically create them so they come out smart, fast, and better than anything before. That we’re going to reach the point where we can adjust humans like computer scientists adjust code.
But, here come the ethical debates. Who get to be the adjuster or optimizer of the Childs life? What happens if something goes wrong? When the children grow older, will they resent that the “parents” turned them into a cutting edge freak? If you were tweaked and changed, I think that you are no longer the spawn of your parents love. I think that you’ve been turned into a kind of experiment. If we ever reach this point in time, I hope I’m no longer living. There is no way to “optimize” a human life. If we try, were only creating abominations. Let nature worry about the genetics.
Even after I say that to myself though, I’m already thinking of one or two exceptions to the DNA meddling. I think that the child should grow up to an age where it can make decisions on its own; 8-20 years. Then be given the chance to change their own DNA. Another case would be if they had diabetes, or they were blind. Had a fatal heart condition, or couldn’t move their legs. Then there would be a reason to make the child’s life easier. If easier is the wrong word then make them more...normal. So, maybe this technology will have its advantages, and its disadvantages. And, I can already see all the debates on the news.
Resource:
1) AgapakisLast, C. A. (2011, November 15). Human design. Retrieved from http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/oscillator/2011/11/15/human-design/
PERSONAL Post #4: Life on other planets?
Planet Earth is falling apart. It’s becoming over populated. The atmosphere is filling with hot air, and were becoming more hostile toward each other. We need to leave or we are all going to die. Not that we weren’t going to die anyway. Our sun, the provider of food and life, will expand and engulf Earth in about 5 billion years.
This doesn’t bother me, but it is a problem none the less. It is all the more reason why we should move. Moving to a new planet is a logical idea, however we need to find where will we can go. We must find a planet that is suitable to support carbon based life forms. Our best bet is to find one that is already inhabited. And, if we are able to find an already inhabited world maybe the habitants will be advanced enough to help us move there.
I think that the first step to find a planet to house us is to find one that contains water in liquid form. Humans need water to live. As we have proved on Earth, where there is water there is a good chance that life is there too.
A few years ago, scientists found a planet that is called “Giliese 581 g”. It is about 20 light years away. That’s only 300,000 years of continuous travel! Despite the distance and time to get there, this planet is worth looking in to because of something on its surface. There is water on its surface, in liquid form. As I stated before, there is a chance that life could exist there too.
If we are to suppose that there is life on Giliese 581 g , I doubt that it would be very advanced. I feel that an another evolved carbon-based organism like us would be improbable, however, just because it’s improbable doesn’t mean it’s impossible. In order to support this theory, I wish to introduce the drake equation.
N = R* x Fpx Ne x Fe x Fj x Fc x L
N, The number of communicating civilizations in our galaxy
R, The number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Est, 100 Billion
Fp, The fraction of those stars that have planets around them. Est, 20-50%
Ne, The number of planets per star that have planets around them. Est, 1-5
Fe, Those planets that go on to support life. Est, 0-100% (50)
Fi, The number that develop intelligent life. Est, 0-100% (50)
Fc, The number that become intelligent and release detectable signs of their existence into space.Est, 10-20%
L, The length of time for the civilization to release these signs. Est, Varible
If we input estimates into the equation, we get N (the number of communicating civilizations in our galaxy) to equal 1000. There would be a 1000 possible civilizations that we can communicate with. Our galaxy compared to the Virgo Supercluster, is extremely tiny (See fig 1 (figure one is too big....see link). This means there could be a possible 1000 civilizations just within our galaxy alone, imagine how many could be out there inside of the observable universe.
Earths Location In The Universe:
This is a large picture that shows you the approximate location of Earth in a portion of the universe. If you view this photo, prepare to have your mind blown as humans cant comprehend the actual size that is depicted. Earth's_Location_in_the_Universe_(JPEG).jpgEarth's_Location_in_the_Universe_(JPEG).jpg
Resourses:
1) SETI. (n.d.). The drake equation. Retrieved from http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/seti/drake_equation.html
2) Daily Mail. (n.d.). Giliese 581 g. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1316538/Gliese-581g-mystery-Scientist-spotted-mysterious-pulse-light-direction-newEarth-planet-year.html
HWK Post #3: My views on stem cells
I’d like to remind everyone that these are just my views. Just because I jump off a bridge doesn’t mean that you do the same. So, just because these are my beliefs, doesn’t mean that you need to have the same ones.
After the research into stem cells, I’ve come across a few points that I think are mainly straight forward. If you’re not using something, don’t throw it away; If your benefiting from something that’s not harming anyone/thing then don’t waste it; don’t waste a life.
What I mean by the first statement is, don’t waste the excess embryos; the ones that come from those IVF clinics. They are being thrown away, which is wasting a human life. They could be used for good! The benefits that can come from something that we don’t even use can be enormous. So, don’t throw them in the garbage, recycle them into new cell lines.
Point two is going over the cell lines we have already. Why would we stop using them? They are ever growing. They are promoting life saving research. And, they are not hurting ANYONE! Leave the lines alone, what’s done is done.
Last, but certainly not least, point three. “Don’t waste a human life”. This idea touches on all parts of stem cell research and is also the most controversial. Each and every embryo does have the chance to be a human yes, but are they humans in the beginning stages? We find it horrible to use these embryos for research; well some people do at least. But the embryos are just a collection of cells. When you used that hot water to wash your hands, you killed millions of organisms. So why do we throw away the ones we do have? Use them. Don’t waste that life, use it for something this helpful to our race. Cure cancer, fix paralyzed people, save a family members life after some kind of accident. Just please don’t let anything go to waste.
P.S. I seem to have forgotten about cloning. Well, for god’s sake don’t clone a human. I know there’s that guy who’s in the basement lab putting a “mini me” into his victims belly. But, just don’t do that. It’s wrong. But, animals on the other hand….. Imagine fields of perfect cows, pigs, sheep, and chickens. The trade that would come to Adanac…..
Resource: 1) The great and wonderful Alex Horwood. (applaud now)
HWK Post #4: The Hot Zone (Part One)
Our story begins in the forest , with a little man who lives alone. Our man, Charles Monet, lives in a bungalow that is within sight of Mount Elgon. One day Charles goes for a walk with a pretty lady. He takes her to the cave (Kitrum Cave) where he may have cut his finger on a crystal. And the cut may have come in contact with some bat feces. But, these are assumptions. Our little man then contracted a deadly case of a virus….called Ebola. If the world was a fairy tale, Ebola would be the Grinch mixed with hate, a sledgehammer, and everything bad you can think of.
Our little man continues to a hospital where he arrives on the brink of death. He then proceeds to bleed out in the waiting room; makes a big mess too. A doctor came to help him. His name was Dr. Shem Musoke. Shem also came into contact with our little villain, and it ravaged his body. But, he managed to survive the virus; being the very lucky 10% that live.
Our setting of our tale now shifts to a small town where the Jaax family live. Nancy and Jerry Jaax both work in the veterinary section of the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick. Later in the chapter Nancy gets a job working with the Ebola virus. And on one of her first few trips, she comes within an centimeter of catching it.
In the next few chapters, it is shown that the Ebola virus travels across a room from one infected monkey, infecting one several feet away. It becomes airborne.
In chapter 8, a small boy with the name of Peter Cardinal dies in a hospital; not long after a visit to Kitrum Cave. The same place on Mount Elgon the Monet also visited. Their deaths are similar, except the child bled out under his skin and not out of his body. The next chapter consists of a group of men trying to scower the cave for the virus. They come up empty.
This Ebola scares me. It literaly scares the living crap out of me. That something so darn small can cause so much death and destruction... But, i am also very interedsted in the prospect of learning about in. Hey, myeb someday we can work out how to build an immunity to it. As we did smallpox, and eradicate it from the world. But, i guess we have to ind the host organism first.Then we can focus on the immunization.
Resources:
1) Preston, Richard. The Hot Zone. Expanded. 1. Ney York: Anchor Books, 1995. 1-153. Print\
HWK Post #5: The Hot Zone (Part Two)
Part 2 of the book starts off with a bit of background information of the process of importing monkeys into the united states. Where every year, around 16 000 monkeys are imported. In one particular monkey house, a few of the animals start to die. After an autopsy they are all found to have a hardened spleen. Engorged and clotted with blood. The owner sends samples to USAMRID for testing. They notice that the cells are puffy and have black specks. A few days later, monkeys start to die in the other rooms.
Now, the scientists have discovered that the samples contain a filovirus. This is very bad news as two members of the staff have actually been in contact and have sniffed a vile containing the virus. It is tested and proved to be Ebola Zaire.
Now comes the decisions that need to be made. Wheater the USMRID gets control of the operation or if the army does. They eventually go hand in hand to fix the probem. Teams are assembled and gear is found.
Resources:
1) Preston, Richard. The Hot Zone. Expanded. 1. Ney York: Anchor Books, 1995. 1-153. Print.
HWK Post #6: The Hot Zone (Part Three)
Now comes the euthanasia of the monkeys. It begins with the USAMRID team gathering up all of the supplies that were used in Kitrum cave (the space suits, tents etc..) and loading them into a van to be transported to the monkey house. They create an airlock and a grey area in the building. By working in teams they are able to put all of the monkeys to sleep in a timely fashion and keep it out of the reporters eyes.
During this time, a few of the employees that work at the house were getting sick. Two men were sent to hospital with retching and one had had a heart attack.
After reading this third section, I liked to see how the dealt with a scary situation. I also like knowing that when they cleansed the building, they did so with extreme thoroughness. The chemicals used wiped away any trace of life from within the walls. But, it’s still really scary how only a tiny thing can cause so much trouble and almost kills us all. But with this happing with almost knowone knowing. How much has happened before that no one has told us about? Has there been other Ebloa breakouts that have been scuffed under the rug covered up for our own "protection"? I just hope that this never gets released into a moajr city. Or in a worst case scenario, an airport.
Resources:
1) Preston, Richard. The Hot Zone. Expanded. 1. Ney York: Anchor Books, 1995. 1-153. Print
HWK Post #7: The Hot Zone (Part Four)
The fourth part of the book is located in Africa. It is Preston’s personal journey to the cave. It explains how the highway that splits Africa made it much easier to travel. It also made it much easier for viruses to spread. During this chapter a man is traveling to Kitrum cave to take a look around. He has a trained guide who also comes. The man also brings along a level 4 bio-hazard suit, or, something that closely resembles one. The two men reach that cave a have to be escorted up by an armed guard.
Once at the cave, he assembles his biohazard suit. In the cave itself, he is very cautious. Not touching anything, being suspicious of everything around him. Once he had his fill of ground zero, the book flips to him visiting the building where the monkey outbreak happened. He found that it was for sale; the business having gone elsewhere. He moved around back and looked into one of the windows. He saw signs of plants and insects growing in the building. That life had finally come back, reclaiming what was once the earth’s.
Preston then goes on to explain that he thinks Ebola will be back. And in greater numbers (star wars reference).
I actually found this idea rather scary. Him knowing that Ebola will be back to haunt us once again makes me not want to sleep. But, all in all I really enjoyed the book a lot. I would read it again. So, goodnight all. It is exam week next week and I should go to bed
Resources:
1) Preston, Richard. The Hot Zone. Expanded. 1. Ney York: Anchor Books, 1995. 1-153. Print
PERSONAL Post #5: Whale Prosecution
A marine biologist by the name of Nancy Black faces up to 20 years in prison with a half million dollar fine attached. She has been accused of breaking federal law. More specifically, the Marine Mammal Protection Act. On two occasions, she has violated the law that says you can’t be within 100 ft of a whale while on a watercraft. The whale in question, she had know previously to be very friendly.
She had seen him swimming earlier and set out to find him. She did, and fed him several pieces of meat. After her arrival, she was asked to provide a video of her whale watching that day. What she gave them was a video with that particular section edited out.
What I want to know is, why is a trained marine biologist being charged for doing her job? The thought of going to prison because I worked too hard in school is appalling. So why are they pushing this on her? She wasn’t at risk to hurt the whale, she knew what she was doing. I just think that their spending too much time trying to find out what she did wrong and not spending enough time on other things that actually help our world. Like the feeding and breeding patterns of whales….
Resources:
1) Didymus, J. (2012, Jan 12). Marine biologists could get 20 years in prison for feeding whales. Retrieved from http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/31745
PERSONAL Post #6: Spider-Goat
In a small farm somewhere in the United States, there is a normal looking goat named Freckles. Alas, Freckles is very far from normal. She is part spider. Wait! Before you freak out a run around in circles, this goat cannot hang from a web and catch large animals. Now sit down and let me finish eh?
Our goat friend is the product of “extreme crossbreeding”. The product of someone manipulating our DNA in a field called synthetic Biology. I have touch on the idea in an earlier post. She has been made for one reason; her “silk”. Spider’s excrete a thin strand of it when they fall. You’ve all seen a web that they can make. Maybe what you didn’t know is the silk itself is stronger than Kevlar; one of the strongest fabrics in the world. But you cannot farm spiders. They can be very cannibalistic animals and will eat each other to death. That’s where freckles comes in. The DNA from the glands that produce the spider silk in spiders has been taken out and mixed with the DNA of the milk producing glands in Freckles. This prompts her glands to create the milk and the spider silk protein.
So, they milk this special goat, extract the protein, and wind the created strand onto a spool of more of it. Like a spool of string, but with very tiny strands of spider/goat silk.
As I also touched on in my earlier post, we are getting so close to the point when we will be able to change literally everything about the world. Who knows, one day we might create a vacuum plant that turns co2 into o2 so fast that it’s like a jet engine. Then we would be getting somewhere…..
Resources:
1) Rutherford, A. (2012, Jan 14). Synthetic biology and the rise of the 'spider-goats'. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jan/14/synthetic-biology-spider-goat-genetics
There is yet another new strain of influenza coming into view. It is called “Novel Swine Flu”. It is a variant of the original swine flu in 2009 containing a gene that codes for matrix proteins found in the viral shell. It has been dubbed A(H3N2)v. The “v” stands for variant, so it is distinguishable from the seasonal pig flu virus A(H3N2).
With the questioning of the victims, a new question has been aroused that doctors are asking patients that are thought to be infected with this virus. "Have You Been Around Pigs?” This came about because almost all of the patients have been in contact with one prior to catching the disease. On December 3d, 2011 the infection count had risen to 12 people. Though not very many people are infected, you all know how quickly it developed and spread in the movie Contagion.
But, this post is not limited to this one strain of flu. The CDC (center for disease control) has another novel variation of the swine flu on its radar. It is the A(H1N1) with a mix of genes from avian, swine, and human influenza genes. Since all of these animals have contributed to deadly diseases, I happen to be frightened by this one. If you would like to read more on the CDC’s post, the link is here http://www.cdc.gov/media/haveyouheard/stories/Influenza_A_Variant.html.
Resources:
1) Lowes, R. (2011, Dec 28). Novel swine flu virus now reported in 5 states, says cdc. Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/756148
PERSONAL Post #8: The Velociraptor
I have recently watched the movies Jurassic Park for the millionth time (planning on reading the book again soon). I have noticed when I watch the movie, I have a favorite dinosaur the almost always triumphs above the rest. The Velociraptor! I will admit it, I am in love with them.
But what I have learned has changed my affection to them; still as strong as ever, just different. The raptors that we see in the movie have been exaggerated in one main extent. They stood just about as tall as the average turkey. Still the same ruthless animal though. Another fact I found was that they had feathers; maybe just on their arms, or maybe in some species of raptor, covering their entire body. I found this a silly thing to think about. The scaly animal I met in one of my favorite movies may have been less scary than I thought.
One thing that they are almost positive is true is the raptors were indeed pack hunters. Since I have found out that they were smaller, I believe they had to stick together to stay alive; to take down the larger animals in groups and not alone. But, still. The raptor will forever live on it its movies. And somewhere in my heart.. I guess
Resources:
1) BBC. (2012). Velociraptors. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Velociraptor
PERSONAL Post #9: Bioluminescence (FONT WONT CHANGE BACK)
I guess this will be movie post number two. I have recently watched the movie Avatar again. This post was an idea I had while swimming a rather boring set. Bioluminescence. When our protagonist runs through the forest for the first time, at night, he hits every plat possible and they all seem to react and light up. I had just thought, whoa, what if when I walked to school or to the stream outside the plats lit up around me? I would love to have that. I am boarding the first ship to Pandora.
Well since this is bio, I have to explain why this happens right? Ugh, cant you jut watch the movie? Fine. Ill do it, but I don’t like it!
As of now, this only really happens naturally in animals. O, I will use a firefly as my example. There are two enzymes, luciferase and luciferin. In the presence of magnesium ions, oxygen, and ATP a reaction occurs. This reaction is what causes the light to spill out of the gland beneath the abdomen of this animal. What’s cool is that in our developing worlds, people are using this reaction in interesting ways. It is used in forensics and other fields of the type but also in medicine. Say a patient need to know if there is magnesium of ATP somewhere…they put in these two enzymes and wa la! The patient has a temporary glowing ear.
Since we are able to change genes of some animals, would it be a good idea to implement this into plants and then expose this plat to the wild? If it were to survive, would we have a light up outdoors? I think It would be neat, but that’s just my opinion.
PERSONAL Post #9: Bird Flu...again
I have been thoroughly freaked out. As brought to my attention by you Mr. Buntain, the scientists that were making the bird flu in the lab were able to make it easily transferable from ferret to ferret.
“Why should we care? Their just ferrets”.
Well dear reader, ferrets are the closest representation for humans in lab flu studies. Soooooo there monsters just created a brand new pathogen that could be easily transferred from me to you, in theory. What happens if it escapes the lab? The estimate is that it would kill between 20 million to 150 million people worldwide. This….this is a big number. It’s scary, that there are people who are making a possible horror in a lab. What if someone with malicious intents got a hold of this virus, planted a bit in the JFK airport? Then, in a matter of hours, it could be worldwide.
Now, for the first time in history, two major science journals have been asked to not publish the stories of how the virus was made, for the reason that it could be replicated and released in the world. Me? I’m just here at my key board….scared to death at these experiments.
Another thing, why is it so important that this isn’t released? Oh, well the death rate is 60%...This is 600 times greater than our seasonal flu.
In my opinion, destroy it. All of it. Pull a black op operation and burn it all, securely of course.
Resources:
Vergano, D. (2012, Jan 5). has bird flu biology opened bioterror box?. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/story/2012-01-25/bird-flu-human/52794524
PERSONAL Post #11: SpinOff
For my spinoff, I wanted to look at a
Ebola has two specific enzymes that it needs. I mean it is required for Ebola to have these enzymes. Guess what happens when it gets taken away? The virus loses almost all of its infectivity. These enzymes are used to help the virus enter cells and then proceed to lyce (Lytic cycle Woot!) them. What else their finding is, if they can utilize something to stop these enzymes from being produced, then they might be able to cure many more hemorrhagic fevers.
Well, more on the enzymes. When one called “cathepsin B” becomes inhibited, the infectivity indeed drops to almost zero. So, if they could utilize this in an inhibitor drug, maybe we could have a possible cure for one of the most deadly diseases on earth. This alone would give me greater security and more reason to leave my house….
But they are still working on finding the host of Ebola because if they could do that, it would be much easier to manufacture and create a vaccine because you would know what kind of cells the virus originated from. This was touched upon in the book.
Resources:
Science Daily. (2005, April 5). How ebola infects cells. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/04/050418202755.htm
RANDOM Post #1: Camera Catching Light In Motion
Well, it seems that a company has just developed a camera that can record 1 Trillion frames per second....One TRILLION. Its so slow that it can show us light moving. LIGHT. Yes. I happen to be baffled by this video.
This is a zip file containing word versions of all of my posts. If something has gone wrong with the posts themselves, this is here. Thanks!